Unexpected Guardian
by Smokes91
Summary: Rick was Sam's first friend, after leaving, Sam hasn't been the same. Why is he back, and why is he friends with Barricade.
1. Chapter 1

Rick was one of Sams first, and best, friends. Right util he left. But after years, without warning, he returned. He ended up becoming good friends with a polise officer, or was he friends with the car? One day he ran into Sam, and things went back to normal.

One day, walking through a park, Rick ran into Sam. "Sam? Oh my god... Sam" Rick yelled. Running up and tackling Sam, just the way he had when they were kids.

"Whta the... Rick. God man. How longs it been?" San said, dragging himself to his feet.

"Too long man. We need to catch up one day man" Rick said. As he tooking Sam helping hand. "Thanks man" he stated, as Sam pulled Rick to his feet.

"Hey, why don't you come to my house tonight. Mum and dad will be happy to see you" Sam said. Getting into his car.

"Yeah man. What time?" Rick asked.

"How's... 8?" San asked.

"Cool, see ya then" just then Rick noticed the police car, his lift, and left Sam. "Hey look, theres my lift... Got to go" he said, running over to the police car.

San looked in the rear view mirror. "Hey 'Bee, is that Barricade?" Sam asked. Bee looked carefully at the police car. It looked a lot like Barricade, but it had a police officer in the drivers seat. Bee had no idea. And Sam was worried that his friend was in anger. "It couldn't be Barricade. He just freely let Rick in the car. Barricade wouldn't allow any human anywhere near his interior" he announced. As the police car drove off, Bee decided to follow at a careful distance.

But without success, Barricade noticed the Autobot, and as a Decepticon, did not care about who knew about what he was. He quickly did a 360, and carefully tossed Rick out of the car. Then transformed, Rick was scared. "**OH MY GOD!**" He yelled at the top of his lungs. He jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could away from Barricade.

"Wait, Rick... Please, it's me" Barricade announced, Bee and Sam were both surprised at the real worry in Barricades voice, as his charge ran away from him. "Please Rick. You know I'm not going to hurt you" he said, Rick just kept running, Rick ran into a small alley, one of which Barricade couldn't fit in bipedal mode, and he didn't want to change to alt mode and chace after Rick. So he needed help. "You... Squishy", he said. Turning his attention to Sam.

"Hey, you want my help?" Sam asked.

Barricade couldn't believe he was about to go so low as to get help from a squishy. "Yes" he announced staring at the ground.

"Then you had better start treating me with some respect". This angered Barricade, and he growled at Sam. "Ok, fine... Good luck" he stated walking away.

"Wait!" Barricade snapped. "...Sam, please can you help me?" he asked. Hating himself.

"See was that so hard?" he asked. Barricade mumbled and growled to himself, as Sam walked past him, heading into the alley, after Rick. Rick was curled up at the very back of he alley. He began to sob, about the fact that he was friends with some alien car, not a cop. "Rick?" Sam asked, walking towards him.

"Oh Sam... Don't look at me, please" he stated, turning his head away from Sam's view.

"Hey, it's ok. It happens to us all" he said. Sitting down next to Rick. "It's not everyday, you find out that you're mate is friends with alien robots" he said. Putting his arm around Rick's shoulders.

"Barricade..." before he could finish, Sam interupted him.

"No actually, Barricade and I have never really had friendship... I'm friends with Bumblebee. My car, and his team" he said. He looked over at Rick, who by this time had began shaking. "Hey... Rick, you ok?" he asked.

"You telling me that there's more of these things?" he asked. He looked over at Sam, and he just nodded. "Um.. Why aren't you friends with Barricade?" he asked.

Sam just stared at him for a while, before he came up with the best way to tell hm. "Um... Well 'Bee and his team are Autobots, there kinda like the good guys. While Barricade is a Decepticon, kinda like the bad guys... But he seems to have changed. He's not being, as mean as normal. It's like he's protecting you from something" he said. He turned his attention back to Rick. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, as he got up on his knees and knelt right in front of Rick.

"Well, I was out for a drive one day. And I saw a jet fly overhead. And Barricade said a name".

Sam looked at him. "Now you need to tell me... What did he say?" he asked. grabbing Ricks hands.

"I couldn't be sure, but it sounded like he said... Starscream" he said. Sam stood up and wndered. 'Why would Barricade be protecting Rick from Stascream?'.

"Now, you have to listen to me. Barricade is not going to hurt you. Ok?. He's protecting you, he's your guaridian" he said. Helping Rick to his feet.

"So I can go out there without being attacked?" Rick looked straight into Sam's eyes.

"Yes" he said, truthfully.

"Ok, I trust you. And I'm sure I will get use to Barricade being some giant alien robot" he announced, as they walked towards to street.

_Barricade and Bumblebee_

"Oh come on, how long does it take to get one guy out of a fragging alley?" he snapped, as he tried to get up.

Buy Bee wouldn't have any of it. "Sit" Bee said, aiming his cannonsat Barricade's spark chamber. Barricade did what he was told.

"Bee, put your weapons down, he's not gonna hurt anyone" Sam said, as he and Rick exited the alley.

"Rick..." Barricade started, but before he could finish. Rick turned away. "Oh... Sorry" he said, transforming into his alt form, and his holoform got out of the car, and walked towards Rick. "Rick... I'm so sorry. I should have told you earlier. I just wanted to protect you. Please forgive me" Barricade said, as he stepped towards Rick.

Rick put a hand on Barricade's shoulder. "It's ok... Sam has already explained what you are, and that you're not going to hurt me... And that's all I need" he said. Barricade smiled and turned back t Sam. "Thank you squichy. I appreciate it. How can I repay you?" he asked.

"Well, you could come back to the Autobot base, we need more bots on our side" he said.

Barricade became angery. "No way am I going to join you're pathetic Autobots. I'll pass" This frightened Rick even more, finally Barricade noticed that hs charge was again moving away from him. "I'm sorry. Fine... I'll come back t you're base, but I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for Rick" Barricade said. Then his holoform disappeared, and is alt mode revved. Rick hesitated for a moment, then ran over an jumped into the car. "Alright... Are we going?" Barricade snapped.

"Alright, hold on... Bee" Sam turned to his guarian, Bee transformed and Sam jumped into the car.

When they got back. Ironhide was not happy to see Barricade. "YOU! What are you doing here?" He yelled. Then Rick jumped out of the car, and Barricade transformed.

"I'm not here for you... That's for sure" he snapped, standing in a defensive stance, but not bringing his weapons out. "I'm here because I owe Sam a small debt" he finished.

Ironhide backed down. "Fine, only cause there's a human around, I'm not killing you" he said. As he pushed past Barricade.

Still in progress, chapter 2 coming soon.


	2. Chapter 2

After Sam and Bee turned up, they took Barricade and Rick to Optimus prime's office. When we got to his office, Rick became more worried, he was huge. He began to become very scared. Barricade noticed this and picked my up, and held him close to his chest plates, Rick felt comfortable that Barricade was protecting him.

"What is Barricade doing in my office?" Optimus asked. "And why has he got a human?" he continued, he put his arms out to take me from Barricade, but he just tightened his grip on Barricade's armour. Optimus could see that Barricade was not going to hurt Rick, in any way. Barricade pulled him away from Optimus' arms. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you were protecting the boy", he announced, as he walked over and sat down.

Rick was still gripping, as hard as possible, to Barricade's armour. Then Rick heard his comforting voice. "Hey, it's ok. You're safe, ok? He's not going to hurt you. You're safe here" he stated. Rick loosened his grip and looked as his optics. "It's alright, I'm not going to let anything happen to you", Rick looked at him, and couldn't help but yawn, he was exhausted from the day he just had. "It's alright. You can go to sleep. I'll protect you, I promise" Barricade said. As Rick fell asleep in his arms.

"Why?" Optimus asked.

Barricade stared at him. "Why what?" he asked.

"Why are you protecting a human?" Optimus asked. Waching the young man asleep in Barricade's arms.

"To be honest. I don't no. I just saw Starscream flying after a young man, and I just felt I had to protect him. I'm most definitely not welcome back with the Decepticons" he announced.

Optimus looked at him, and then down to the young man in his arms. Barricade held Rick protectively close to his chest plates. "You are welcome here, if you would like somewhere to stay".

Barricade looked down at Rick, then back up to Optimus. "Yes, Rick needs a place to stay anyway", he stated.

"You can stay in Bumblebee's room" Optimus said. But before Bee could argue the point, Optimus stared at him. "Bee, he has nowhere else. He will stay with you. Just until we can find a room for himself", he then turned back to Barricade. "Rick may stay with you, if you feel you will be able to protect him more", Barricade just nooded, and followed Bee to his room.

"Sorry if it's not what you would normally be use to, but I've never had to house a Decepticon before" Bee said. Bee went to his berth and fell into recharge. Barricade just sat down, leening on the wall, and fell into recharge, with Rick still safely close to his chest plates.

The next morning Rick woke up, and didn't want to wake Bee or Brricade, so decided to see what his surroundings were like. he decided to go for a walk, and almost got stood on by Ratchet. "Hey, where did you come from?" he asked, moving closer to Rick. rick jus screamed and ran as fast as he could. Ratchet decided to get on with his work.

By the time Barricade woke up, Rick had seen almost every bot in the base, and was terrified. He found a hiding spot, and decided not to come out, until he knew Barricade was there with him. Barricade awoke, to find that Rick was no longer in his arms. in his panic to find his charge, he ran straight into Ironhide. "HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" He yelled.

Barricade just looked at him, then dropped his head to look at the ground. "I'm sorry Ironhide... But I need to find Rick. I didn't mean to hurt you" he said. Ironhide couldn't believe that Barricade just said sorry.

"Alright. We'll find him. Ratchet said, that he saw a human he's never seen before, but all he did was run off" Ironhide explained. Barricade, ran off towards the rec. room. Ironhide followed closely.

"Rick, where are you?" he yelled, trying to find Rick desperately.

"You're looking for a human, correct?" Sideswipe asked, as he walked out of the rec. room.

"Yeah, have you seen him?" Barricade demanded.

"Yeah, last I saw of him, he ran into the storage room... Hope you find him" he announced as he walked off. Ironhide directed Barricade to the storage room.

"Great... You gotta be kiddin me? You except me to look through that?" Barricade asked. Looking at the room full or spare parts.

"No... Watch..." Ironhide said. "Rick, no one is going to hurt you. We're here to help" Ironhide said. But there was no answer.

Barricade stepped forward. "Rick, come on. It's me, Barricade. come on out, no one wants to hurt you. I'll prtect you... I promise", Barricade stated. Then they both heard metal sliding then Rick came running out, and straight into Barricade's arms.

Chapter 3 soon.


	3. Chapter 3

After the Autobots realised that Barricade had changed, they started to accept him into their base, and into the Autobot ranks. But Rick was still warry of them, after slowly getting use to them, he still avoided them as much as possible.

"Come on Rick... You can let go now" Barricade said, slowly lowering Rick t the floor, Rick didn't have any of it.

"No. I don't want to" he said. Tightening his grip on Barricade.

"Hey little one, we're not going to hurt you" Optimus annouced, taking a step towards Rick.

But Rick just climbed back up Barricade's arm. "Leave me alone!" he snapped.

Sam was worried, that about his mate. "Come on Rick. You have an alien robot guardian, you are in a room full of bots that will never let anything happen to you and you've got me. I know these bots, if they did anything to you. They would have me to answer to" Sam said, climbing up Barricade's arm to get to Rick.

"Oi, get off!" Barricade snapped.

Sam looked straight up to him. "Hey, I'm trying to help. Be happy" he said. After getting safely to Rick, and comforted him. "Come on. None of these robots will purposely hurt you in any way. Believe me, I've known them since high school. They'll help Barricade protect you. I promise" Sam said.

Rick looked at Sam, then up into Barricade's optics. "It's alright Rick. You can trust them. They won't hurt you. They'll protect you" Rick slowly started climbing down Barricade's arm. "There you go".

But he was still warry of them. "Wow, they're huge" he announced looking at Sam.

"Yeah well they transfrom into vehicles. They need to be big" Sam explained. Rick just nodded, then looked back up to the Autobots.

Optimus lent down to Rick. Rick started stepping back, but was stopped by Barricade's hand. "It's alright, he's not gonna hurt you. Trust me" he said. Rick nodded, andd stepped forward.

"It's alright Rick. I mean you no harm" Optimus said, in a calm, soft vice. This immediately effected Rick, and he relaxed almost momentarily.

"Wow. That's the most relaxed I've seen you since we arrived" Barricade stated.

"Well. I've just realised that if any of them wanted to hurt me. They would have already. Right?" he asked, looking straight up to Barricade. Barricade just nodded. Rick had finally accepted that he was truely safe while he was at the Autobot base.

After getting use to the Autobots, he started wanting to get to know them. It took weeks for Rick to get to know each robot, but he finally knew them by name. He was happy where he was.

Aweek after that reports of large explosion, bigger than anything made on earth could create. Optimus ordered Ironhide to lead a party, and choose two others to jin him. He chose Ratchet... And Barricade. Barricade was surprised that the weapons specialist would allow him to join a mission. "Hey you haven't left the base since you arrived. I think you deserve to get ut and about. Nows your chance" Barricade nodded, and began to walk towards the enterance.

But was abruptly stopped. "Wait... Barricade" Rick yelled. "I want to come with you" he asked.

"Rick, it could be degaerous. Please just stay here" he stated. But Rick didn't want to.

"Please, you said you would never leave me" he said. Barricade thought for awhile then looked at Rick. He couldn't say 'no' to his charge. "Alright" he said. "But you have to stay up on my shoulder" he finished.

"Ok, I don't mind" Rick announced, carefully climbing up Barricade's arm to his shoulder.

"Don't let go" Barricade announced.

"Don't worry, I don't intend to" Rick said, grabbing hold of Barricade armour.

When they got to the site, there was nothing there. "Why are we here Ironhide?" Ratchet asked.

"Well these are the co-ordanites that Optimus gave me" Ironhide stated.

"Well I hate to point it out, but there's nothing here" Barricade snapped.

"Hey Barricade. What's hat over there?" Rick asked pointing to some sort of giant motherboard.

"It looks look a cybertronian motherboard. I haven't seen one of these since I left Cybertron. There things are rare" he said. He knelt down and put a hand on it. Which was a bad idea, becaude it sent an electric current through Barricade to Rick. Barricade fell to the ground, and Rick was thrown off him.

"Barricade!" Ratchet yelled, running to Barricade. Ratchet looked over Barricade and found nothing wrong with him. But that was more than could be said about Rick.

Ironhide picked Rick up and pulled him close to his chest, as he walked over to Ratchet. "Ratchet. Problem" he said. Ratchet stood up, and looked at the unconcious body in Ironhide's arms.

"Oh frag. Put him on the ground" he said. At that moment Barricade started to come to, and noticed Rick on the ground.

"NO!" he yelled thrying to run over to him.

But Ironhide grabbed him, and pulled him away. "Just let Ratchet do his job" Ironhide said, with a tight grip on Barricade's arms.

"But he's my charge. I was meant to look out for him" He said, dropping to his knees. "This is my fault" he said.

"No it's not, you couldn't have known that the motherboard was live" Ironhide said. Giving Barricade a comforting hug. Barricade tried to fight, but then looked back over to Rick, and couldn't help but leen into Ironhide's arms. "It's alright. Don't blame yourself" he said.

"There's a heartbeat, but it's faint" Ratchet announced. "And it appears off beat" he finished. "Ironhide. Come here" he snapped.

"It's ok. Ratchet knows what he doing" he said. Leaving Brricade.

"Ok your chest plates. I need your spark chamber" he said.

"What? What the frag do you think you're doing?" Barricade yelled, getting to his feet.

"If I can sent anothing electrical current through his body. If it works, it should stop the heart, then start it again... In the right beat. You need to trust me" he said, lloking over at Barricade. barricade just nodded. Stepping back, giving Ratchet room. Ironhide opened his chest plates, revealing his spark chamber. Ratchet attached wires to his spark chamber. Then carefully placed them onto Rick's chest. It sent an electrical current through his chest, and his heart. Barricade couldn't watch. Ratchet and Ironhide watched, hoping that it worked. He wasn't breathing for a moment, and Ratchet feared he may have done more damage, but them Rick coughed. Barricade looked over at Rick, who by now was breathing.

"Well, what just happened?" he said, walking towards Ratchet.

"It worked. Rick's heart is now in the correct beat. Ironhide... Thank you for your help" he said, as he removed the wires from Ironhides spark chamber. Ironhide closed his spark chamber, and watched as Barricade carefully picked Rick up, and pulled him close to his body.

"Thank you so much, Ratchet" Ratchet nodded, and watched as barricade took good care of his charge.

Rick opened his eyes, and looked up at Barricade. "Barricade" he said, weakly.

"It's alright, your ok... Your safe now" he said, as Rick carefully climbed back to Barricade's shoulder.

"Not for long" Ratchet said. Everyone looked at Ratchet in disbelief. "I sence at least six Decepticons coming in from diferent directions... We're surrounded. We were setup" he announced.

barricade looked at him, before finally managing to speak. "I thought myself and Starscream were the only Decepticons left on earth" he stated.

Ratchet looked over to him. "Well you're not anymore" he announced. Preparing for battle.


	4. Chapter 4

Ironhide and Barricade joined Ratchet in preparing themseves for battle, but Rick was petrified. He had no idea what would happen. "'Cade" he said, gripping onto Cade's shoulder.

"Rick, I am so sorry. I never meant for you to get dragged into a battle like this. Now listen to me very carefully. You have to go hide. Ok?" he said, Rick refused to let go.

"NO!" he yelled. "I won't leave you" he finaished.

"Rick listen. While I'm fighting... I can't protect you. You have to hide, and whatever you do. Do not come out until I tell you it's safe" Rick shook his head and gripped tighter to Cade.

"No, I can't let you do this, please. Just run" he said.

But the time for running, was gone. "I can't, we will never get out. Ratchet sence's that we are surrounded. And I believe him... I can't protect you while fighting, and I don't want anything to happen to you. So please, while you can. Hide" Rick knew, by the tone of Barricade's voice, that he was serious. Rick finally listened. Barricade carefully put Rick on then ground, he ran like hell, and hid under a fallen tree.

Finally Starscream came into view. "Well, well, well... What have we got here?" he stated. "A weapons specialist, a medic... Oh and a traitor. This should be fun" he announced. Gradually the other five Decepticons came into view. Ratchet recognised a few of them... There was Thundercracker, Soundwave and Blackout. The other two Ratchet had never seen before.

"Ratchet, we are out numbered" Ironhide started.

"Not to mention out powered" Barricade announced.

"What o you mean?" Ratchet asked.

"Well you already know Soundwave, Thundercracker and Blackout... But then there's Reign and Night Fall... Both of which are Stascream's bodyguardds. They are some of the strongest Decepticons around. They'll tear us apart" he announced.

Ironhide and Ratchet looked at each other. "Are you sure?" Ironhide asked.

"Yeah, there's no way I would forget them... Not after they beat the frag out of me" he stated, looked straight into Night Fall's optics. Barricade shuttered as he remembered those two beating the frag out of him, like it was yesterday.

"Well, if we're going down... We're going down fighting" Ironhide said. Powering up his cannons, Ratchet an Barricade followed.

"Put them away" Starscream hissed. "You know you can't beat us" he yelled. "So why not just make our job easy... And give uo now?" he yelled, staring the three bots down.

Barricade stepped forward. "No Stascream... You want us? Well we're not gonna make it easy" he announced.

Starscream looked angry. "Decepticons, attack!" and hissed. The five Decepticons ran towards the three Autobots. All three of them looked terrified, but were not going to let Starscream take them alive.

As the battle began Rick tried to keep as quiet as possible, not wanting to attract attention to himself. Rick began to quietly sob as the battle kept going, he knew that he had to stay out of sight. The battle went on, for what seemed like, forever until suddenly. It was over, Rick took a quick peak, and realised why. The six Decepticons began to walk away from the unconcious forms of three Autobots. Ric waited until the Decepticons were well out of site, before quickly running over to the bots. he went to Barricade. "Cade. Cade wake up" he said. trying esperately to shake Barricade's body. He then ran over to Ratchet, he knew a few things about mechanics, and figured that if he could get the medic back online. Then he would be able to help the other two. He started by reconnecting some wires, and making sure that everything was in its correct place. He continued to work on the medic, until he finally hoped off Ratchets body. Knowing that he had done all he could for him. Now all he could do was wait, and hope that he had done enough to get him back online. Finally after a few minutes, Ratchet began to wake up. "Ah... Rick?" he asked. "How did you...?" he started.

"I know a thing or two about mechanics, and figured if you transform into a vehicle. Then you must have he basic engine design of a car or truck... So I just did a few things" he said. Ratchet got to his feet, and walked over to Ironhide.

"Well, whatever you did... Thank you" Ratchet stated. "Now, could you help getting these two back online as well?" Rick noed, and ran over to help Ratchet with Ironhide. Once Ironhide was awake, they went over to Barricade, and began work on him. It tok some time, but they were all finally back on their feet.

"Ow... What happened?" Barricade asked.

"Well, we underestimated, young Rick. Apparently he knows a few things about mechanics. And he brought me back online. Which in turn, was able to help you two" Ratchet announced.

Barricade looked down at Rick, who just nodded. "What did I tell you about staying hidden until I told you it was safe?" he asked.

"You're Welcome" Rick answered, climbing onto Barricade's hand, and up to his shoulder. "You know, I could have left your broken down ass there, if you wanted" he stated.

Barricade looked over at Rick. "Thank you" he said. Rick placed a hand on Barricade's face plates. "Anytime" he said. They all decided that it would be for the best to head back t base, an explain to Optimus about what the Decepticons had done.


End file.
